Green Eyes, Blue Skies
by sparklylulz
Summary: Noah always has a reason for everything. Including throwing slushies on that Berry chick.


**A/N: This is a continuation of a piece of one of my iPod shuffle challenges.**

**The last song for the Puck/Rachel challenge was 'Time' by Cute is What We Aim For.**

**I really didn't want to end it there, and this is me continuing it.**

**I'm kind of nervous about keeping this in character, especially for Rachel.**

**Sorry if it seems a little OOC.**

–

"_green eyes, blue skies_"

'i need the product of your fears  
in the form of tears  
it's the only way i can survive  
it breaks my heart to see you cry  
and baby, it's the only way i stay alive  
green eyes, blue skies  
natural disasters when she cries  
green eyes, they're mine'

–

Puck wasn't really sure what ticked him off most about the Berry chick. She was annoying as hell, that was true, but he was use to that from Santana. She was always wearing fucking pink, she looked like a damn Pepto Bismol commercial; but she did look really fine in those outfits. Those short skirts were annoying too, but he'd be insane if he said _they_ bothered him. It bothered him that she called him Noah, because it meant that she might actually _know_ him. Really what bothered him most about her was that she believed she was better than everyone else-- and she was.

The slushy wars had started in freshman year, right after Berry had shown up in Lima, gay dads in tow. Really, who the fuck had two dads? Puck couldn't even manage to be good enough to keep one around. She was constantly singing or humming, and she never shut the fuck up. It didn't take people three seconds to notice how bat shit crazy she was. Everyone knew that chick's crazy was contagious.

The thing with Puck was, he knew she wasn't crazy. He knew a lot more about chicks than he usually let on, just because he didn't want to seem like a pussy. Living with his mother, (who was very young for having a sixteen year old son), and a preteen sister had taught him something about women. They were _all_ bat shit crazy. Berry just expressed it more so than other girls, and that was a huge turn off to most guys. If she wasn't so intimidating, she'd be pretty fucking hot.

He felt pretty bad for her, since no one ever seemed to want to speak to her. The football team had planned on doing worse to her than just throwing a slushy in her face. Even as a freshman, Puck had gained respect from the football team members. He knew what he had to do to keep relatively safe from all the other disgusting shit the football team had planned for her.

He didn't like her or any stupid shit like that, he just didn't think anyone should go through what she would have been destined to go through. He threw the first slushy in her face on Halloween. She just blinked at him; she didn't even cry. Hell, she _never_ cried. That's probably what annoyed him most. She never once let a tear slide down her cheeks in front of anyone. Ever.

–

Rachel Berry knew that she came off strong to most people, but that was just who she was. She'd be damned if she was going to change for the people of Lima, Ohio. Her fathers had always taught her that being herself mattered more than what other people even cared to think about her. She adamantly believed this, and that's why she focused all of her energy on being a star.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't been nervous when she stepped through the doors to McKinley High School as a new freshman. She wasn't naïve, she knew that most people were not accepting of the new kids at any school. She noticed the popular kids first, who couldn't? Her eyes followed a blond cheerleader in her uniform, all the way down the hall. It seemed weird to her that they wore them _every single day. _Next came the football players, the first one she spotted was a boy with a ridiculous mohawk. He was staring at her intently, and she didn't think it was in a flattering way.

After the first month of school she realized that she wouldn't be making any kind of friends anytime soon. People thought she was crazy, because she had dreams bigger than all of them. They didn't really understand why she wanted to be famous. Fame was all she had known her entire life, and they resented her for that. She knew how lonely it was at the top, so she concentrated on getting to the top.

It wasn't until Halloween that she realized how hated she really was. She was unloading her things from her locker as always, pulling out erasers, and binders, when she spotted the same boy she noticed on her first day. He was walking towards her, jaw set, holding a cup of something. She just tried to ignore him, but she couldn't ignore the cold slushy that suddenly hit her face. She looked up at him, and he stood in front of her for half a second before walking away. She refused to cry in front of all of these people, bullies fed off weakness. Rachel Berry was not weak.

She had never even spoken to him before. She understood why the cheerleaders called her "Man Hands" because she had outsmarted them, and made that painfully obvious. But, this boy didn't even know who she was. She knew who he was though, she had seen him at temple several times. He probably didn't even take note of her existence when he saw her there. Why had Noah Puckerman taken a personal vendetta out for her? It didn't make any sense.

–

It made perfect sense to Puck. Everyday that he slushied her, not only did he gain respect, but he was kind of like Batman, in keeping her safe. Not that he didn't get satisfaction out of throwing a cold ice drink in her face. This pattern continued all of freshman year and into sophomore year. She still didn't give him any sort of reaction, which pissed him off even more.

What sucked even worse for Puck was that she was Jewish. Like, it went against some creed for him to slushy a fellow Jew. He never talked to her at temple, but his mother and her fathers quickly became acquaintances, something Puck's mother made painfully obvious. _"Why can't you date a nice Jewish girl, like Rachel Berry? She's pretty."_ Those talks always pissed Puck off, why did Rachel Berry seem so perfect to everyone outside of school?

Probably because she was, he had reasoned with himself. Apart from being crazy, she was pretty nice. His eleven year old sister loved her, and practically idolized her singing ability. She was a really damn good singer, he'd heard her sing in temple when she helped clean up afterwards. Even though it was kind of weird that she had gay dads, they were actually really cool guys. They weren't stereotypical gays, and you wouldn't even know they had been married if they didn't hold hands. Rachel obviously loved her fathers very much, and Puck appreciated that.

He didn't like the chick, but he thought he could understand her crazy a little better. She really wasn't as crazy as most people made her out to be, well maybe she was, but she had legitimate reasons for being insane. He didn't stop slushying her, and he sure as hell didn't start talking to her. It wasn't until he was walking from third period to the nurses station so he could sleep through Algebra that he noticed how much he had affected her.

–

Rachel wasn't really afraid of anything, and to most people she didn't let anything get to her. That was just the Berry way, as her fathers had always told her. High school was just another stage in her life, and someday these people wouldn't even matter to her anymore at all.

The problem was, they mattered to her now. No one wanted to be hated as much as she seemed to be. She wanted to have friends, even if they weren't cool. She wanted a boyfriend, or just anyone that cared about her other than her fathers. She wanted people to notice the good things about her, but they never did. Especially not when Noah Puckerman slusied her every single day.

His mother and sister were very close to her, but Noah had never once looked her way outside of the rituals that happened each school day. The worst part of the slushies was that there was no set time he'd throw the freezing beverage. It might be in the morning, or right after third block, or even after she stepped out of the bathroom. She was use to carrying a change of clothes, (thank God he never slushied her more than once), and the thirty minutes it took her to clean herself up.

It didn't mean that it didn't hurt every time she saw him coming down the hall towards her, slushy in hand. She didn't understand why he hated her so much. It wasn't fair, since he'd never even once paused to care about what she felt. She supposed that was just his nature, from what she had heard he was always a jerk. He slept with anything that was pretty and would give it up to him; he threw that gay kid the dumpster; he locked freshmen in port a potties. He didn't cause them as much hassle as he did Rachel.

She never told her fathers, because she knew they'd kill him. She didn't tell his mother, she didn't want to give him a _real_ reason to hate her, because it might get worse that way. She just stayed silent, and payed a fortune to dry clean all of her clothes. She started to break down after he joined glee club. Of course he had to take away the one thing she loved the most. She had hoped the slushies would stop after he joined, but they didn't.

It was after second block, she was locked in the bathroom after cleaning herself up, and sobbing. _"Why does he hate me so much?" _She whispered to herself, running a finger through her sticky hair, quickly pulling it up.

–

Puck really hated it when anyone cried, especially when Rachel Berry cried. Usually he hated it because it was annoying, and the person didn't really have any reason to cry. With Berry, it was because he knew how much her life sucked; hell he'd made his mission to make it suck. It was worse than being punched in the stomach. He could hear her sobbing the choir room after being doused in another ice bath.

"Why does he hate me?" She whispered to no one. He tightened his grip on the wall.

Puck was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He knew that Berry couldn't actually _like_ being slushied, but she never let it seem to phase her. He thought she had just gotten use to it, like it was another part of her daily activities. He could see her through the little glass window, her face was wet, and her hair was pulled up into a bun.

She looked pretty, he reasoned with himself. She wasn't looking like she was better than everyone else. She just looked like a normal, vulnerable girl. He liked that look on her, because she was more real to him suddenly. Her pain was much reasonable, and much worse for him to face. He had been the monster in this case. Just like his dad.

She was sitting in front of the piano, not playing, just crying. It was painful to watch her cry. She really believed that he hated her. The stupidest fucking thing, since he was actually helping her. Although, to be fair, she didn't know that was his intention. He stood watching her for a moment before something suddenly hit him. It was like he had been doused in a slushy himself.

_He doesn't hate you, no where close_.

–

Rachel could see someone looking the door. She thought that it might brighten their day to see the high and mighty Rachel Berry sobbing over a boy. It was just that Noah wasn't just another boy. She had observed them outside of school. He was actually really good with the young boys, and taught them how to play football after the services were over. No one ever called him 'Puck' there, because it was a ridiculous name.

He helped his mother every chance he got. She knew that it was hard on his mom, being a single mother, and having a husband who left her. Noah really did care about his mom, and it seemed like he tried to make her very proud. He always stayed as late as she did, and kissed her goodbye. Rachel wished that he was like Noah, not Puck, more often. He loved his sister too, and it seemed that he had taken it upon himself to be a father figure to her. He was often playing with her, and teasing her. It made Rachel wish she had a sibling.

The worst part of everything was that no matter what she tried, Noah always filled her thoughts. She cared about him more than she wanted to admit. She loved the Noah that she saw outside of school. Maybe the reason she was so hurt right now is because she had been hoping he would turn from 'Puck' to Noah. That was probably a stupid reality for her to dream for.

Maybe someday he'd grow out of this stupid phase he was in, and see that there was much more to life than being a badass. She hoped glee would help him realize this, and so far it didn't seem to be doing that at all.

–

Puck stood at the door for a moment before thinking, _fuck it_. He pulled the door open, which seemed to startle the girl who had just been staring out into space. She looked quickly at him before wiping the wetness from her face hastily.

"What, come back to do it again?" She said harshly, and he flinched. He noticed she was still in wet clothes, her white shirt stained orange today.

"No. Uh, look, here-" he paused to take off his jacket and hand it to her, she was probably freezing.

He was right, she was freezing. She was shaking a little, trying to keep herself warm by wrapping her arms about herself and hugging herself. She probably did look really crazy at that moment in time, but she honestly didn't care one bit.

"What is this, Noah? I don't get you." She said, looking at his jacket like it was a foreign object.

"Just take the jacket Berry, _before_ you freeze to death. Then I'll explain, okay?" He said annoyed, he didn't like having to explain himself to anyone. Especially Rachel Berry.

Rachel hesitated, but took the jacket and draped it around her shoulders. It was warm and smelled like him; smoke, cologne, and cinnamon. It was a nice smell she concluded as he settled onto the bench next to her.

"Well?" She asked, impatiently.

"Look Ber- _Rachel_. I don't hate you." Whatever she had been expecting, this clearly wasn't it at all. He felt a little satisfaction at the surprised look on her face.

"Then why do you torture me everyday?" She asked, sounding more bitter than she had meant.

Puck looked at her for a second, trying to will himself to have enough courage to tell her the truth. He sucked in a huge breath and let it out, just looking at her. Her brown eyes studying his green ones, looking for the truth.

"Because, I was trying to help you." He said slowly, looking anywhere but at her face.

"Help me? How is throwing an ice cold beverage on me everyday _helping me_, Noah?" She asked incredulously. She was having a hard time believing him.

God, why couldn't she just let it go? He felt uncomfortable as he looked back at her. Her eyes were still puffy from crying and small frame had been engulfed by his jacket. Before he could stop himself, he was thinking about how good she looked in his jacket.

"Because the guys on the football team were talking about how they were gonna teach the new girl a lesson. _Loosen her up a bit_." He stated through gritted teeth. Rachel seemed to get what he was saying suddenly, and everything made a little more sense to her.

"So..so you were protecting me?" She asked, somewhat confused.

He looked at her, and realized that even if he had been denying it, she was right.

"Yeah, I guess I was. I just.. every time I saw you in temple and you were so nice to everyone. _Including me_, even though I was a total asswipe to you. It was like, if I messed with you, those guys thought you were staying in your place." He said softly, almost to where she couldn't hear him, since he'd never said this to anyone before.

She studied him, and knew that this must be hard for him to actually say to her. Instead of lecturing him, she went for a simple answer.

"Thank you, Noah." He looked at her. This chick _must_ be crazy, she was thanking him for making her life hell. At his confused look she elaborated.

"I know that it must have been hard for you to say all that, and I appreciate it. It was kind for you to protect me, and even though my high school existence has been far from perfect, I don't blame you. You were helping me. The reason the slushies upset me so much is because I knew the other side to you. Not the Puck side, the Noah side. I saw how much you loved your mom and sister, and how polite you can be. I was hoping you would see it too and realize how much better you are. You're a pretty amazing guy when you choose to be."

She was rambling now, and he wasn't really paying attention. He was looking at her, in a way he never had before. No one had ever said anything that nice about him before, let alone a chick. He knew that she made him sound like a pussy, but he didn't really care. For some reason it made him happy that she really did care about him.

"And I know that you have a place to uphold, but there's so much more to life-" He placed his hand to her mouth.

"Rachel, shut up, I get it." She blushed, feeling like an idiot.

"Thank you." He said, seeing that she thought she had upset him. Always fucking ridiculous.

She looked up at him, and he smiled a little. "I'm going to kiss you now, Berry." For once in her life she didn't say anything, for which he thanked God.

He leaned over and placed a hand on her still drying face and pulled her near to him. He placed his lips on hers and she smiled into them.

"I don't want to make you cry anymore, Berry." He said softly when they parted.

"Then do something about that, Puckerman." She smirked, and he laughed.

From that day on he never slushied her again, but he did kiss her in the hallways, and she was always wearing his huge jacket. For once in his life Noah Puckerman didn't give a fuck what anyone thought about him.


End file.
